Official MLBlog of Keith Olbermann

More On Jeter And 1894

It would appear that the Derek Jeter mess is down to one escape route.

Jeter should take the Yankees’ last offer, adding only one demand to a deal that will already overpay him by 50% or more. To save both his tattered reputation and the equally-sullied one of the Yanks, he should agree to the three years at $15,000,000 per and append to it a deal for an undisclosed figure that keeps him in the employ of the team in some non-playing capacity for ten years or twenty or whatever number they choose to pull out of thin air. Presumably a clause giving him an out in 2014 if he still wants to play (Japan?) could be worked in and boasted about by both sides.

Add one hug, ignore the reality that the Yankees should’ve spent the winter seeking not to mollify Jeter but to replace him, and everybody’s happy – until Jeter hits .238 in 2011.

The urgency of settlement has never been more pronounced than tonight. It’s pretty bad when three or four of your four theoretical alternatives to being vastly overpaid in New York disappear on the same day: The Dodgers sign Juan Uribe to play second, the Giants are about to sign Miguel Tejada to play short, the Rays have just put Jason Bartlett on the block to make room for Reid Brignac and Cardinals trade for Ryan Theriot (conceivably leaving the other middle infield spot still open unless the Skip Schumaker fan club prevails) – oh and Troy Tulowitzki just set the real bar for what a superb shortstop is worth (as opposed to what he was worth).

So that leaves Baltimore (Japan?)

Bad day to be Derek Jeter. He and agent Casey Close were said to have met with the Yankees today, were said to have been a little more flexible when they did so, and Jeter supposedly says he and Close will meet again tomorrow. I think, perhaps, they should.

MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE TEMPLE CUP SCOREBOARD:

I am charmingly chastised by Jenny Ambrose of

the Hall of Fame that the publication from which those first-ever Temple Cup photos were taken and posted here (that’s a detail of Giants’ rightfielder Mike Tiernan, warning up before Game Four at the Polo Grounds in New York, a thousand yards from Yankee Stadium, in October, 1894), “The Illustrated American,” lasted not from 1887 to around 1898, but from exactly February 22, 1890 through February 17, 1899. The magazine met an ignominious end. There may or may not have been a fire at its headquarters, but there was a bankruptcy of some sort. From the “Business Troubles” listing in the April 16, 1898 edition of The New York Times:

Deputy Sheriff Maguire yesterday sold out the office furniture, type, and plant of The Illustrated American at 209 and 213 East Twenty-third Street, for about $1,100.

Never mess with an archivist.

Jenny’s Cooperstown colleague Bill Francis tells us a little something about the events after the decisive game of the 1894 Temple Cup, in which the homestanding Giants swept the Baltimore Orioles 16-3. Again from The Times (October 9, 1894), hours after those photos were snapped:

…the victors and the vanquished saw “Dr. Syntax” at the Broadway Theatre, and afterward recounted some of the pleasant experiences of last season, over foaming bumpers of Nick Engel’s beer. In a few days the players will start for their respective homes, and the baseball cranks’ occupation will be lost until gentle Spring starts again.

You just don’t hear a lot these days about ballplayers reliving the season “over foaming bumpers of beer.”

8 Comments

I’ve really been out of the loop lately with baseball. I’m a disgusted Mets fan who likes to watch the Yankees once in a while – LOL. Anyway ~ I don’t think Jeter is worth $15 million per year. Maybe he could go coach the Mets in 2014? Shyte – the Mets need all help they can get! HA!

This Jeter story is getting rather tired. I assume the Yankees will survive without Jeter at some point in the future. Anyway, the only way out of this problem is a heavily incentive-based contract. In that way, if Jeter produces to a set of baselines he set earlier in this career, he cashes in. If he is on a downward spiral, well, he will not make as much. That seem to be a fair way to settle this matter.

No one agonized over Jeter’s on-field performance last year more than I (OK, maybe his parents), but I agree with the incentive approach. In that way it’s put up or shut up. You earn the salary you get. But if Jeter has been the face of the Yankees (and a good one) for 15 years, why not throw him a bone, too? How about giving him an ownership stake in the club no matter how small? What better way to show him and everyone else he is a true Yankee to the end? Over time that has got to be worth a bunch and everyone saves face.

Wow, underneath your shallow sarcasm of hugs and whatnot I hear a very bitter baseball fan. I guess you’ve been waiting oh, 15 years to finally stick your poison pen into Jeter’s back. Now that Jeter’s in the twlight of his career and will undoubtedly be celebrated as he leaves the stage, you’re lining up to take shots. Bravo!

Seems to me like the blind hero worship of Derek Jeter won’t let some of you folks see KO is being on point. Jeter has been amply compensated for his past achievements and now, with his new deal, he’ll be grossly overpaid. As a Yankee fan I appreciate what he has done but this contract is for what he will do.
This hardcore deification of Jeter, where does it come from? Is he Mantle reincarnated, to these folks? Jeez…He wasn’t the best choice for Captain. I mean, as far as I can tell, past Yankee captains weren?t aloof and detached. Just ?leading by example? cannot be your exclusive claim for leadership. Jeter always seemed the too cool for school type, not someone who would mentor a young player?has he mentored anyone??or lay down the law in the clubhouse, which is why someone like Posada comes across as the quintessential team captain, IMHO. (Or Mo, for that matter.)
But we’ll have Mr. Winning-Is-Everything (um, not quite) and his diminishing skills and YS-sized ego for another couple of years, so…

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